Normani thinks her childhood heroes have paved the way for her success.
The 25-year-old singer — who first shot to fame as part of Fifth Harmony — credits Beyoncé, Ashanti, Ciara, and Janet Jackson for playing a major role in her success.
“They gave me the opportunity to be the Black girl that I am today and the Black artist and woman that I’ve evolved into,” she told “Entertainment Tonight” during a recent interview.
“It’s women like [those icons] and them giving me representation at an early age for me to be able to, when I was four or five years old, tell my mom and my dad, ‘I wanna be like Janet. I wanna dance like Ciara. I wanna be like Beyoncé.’ What I’m seeing on the television is who I wanna be and it really opened my mind to the possibilities of who I’ve had the opportunity of becoming and for me that means absolutely everything.”
Normani previously confessed that making music has “saved” her.
The “Wild Side” singer explained the importance of working amid her mother, Andrea Hamilton’s, battle with breast cancer.
Normani — who has enjoyed success as a solo artist over recent years — said: “This past year, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. For me, this work that I was able to put out into the world really saved me, to be completely honest. Even just being on FaceTime with her as she’s going through her chemo and her radiation, and just wanting me to update her on how this video is going, and how the music is coming, it really got her through that. It got my family through the darkest time of our lives.”
